BIM Troublemaker

An "Architecture Degree" is the new "English Major"

2012-02-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

Following on from this post about Phil Read's class on How to Get Ahead in Architecture, I found these two columns via Architectural Record that make good reading.

The architecture meltdown

One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy. Where does architecture go from here?

Featuring great quotes like:

These days, “We are making less than a cleaning lady,”
as an educator, I feel like an ayatollah sending kids running into the minefield
Architects are supposed to be serving society, but I think we’re struggling to maintain our position in society.

and this article

Want a Job? Go to College, and Don’t Major in Architecture

Featuring this chart which shows that architecture graduates have a higher unemployment rate than artists!

Though i am not sure if they are counting the "sandwich-artists" at SUBWAY.

And things are still shitty in Asia too so don't get any ideas.

RTC Here I come!

2012-02-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

I feel loved....

Dear BIMTroublemaker,

Thank you for submitting an abstract for consideration at RTC 2012 Australasia, to be held at Novotel Wollongong Northbeach, NSW, Australia on 24 - 26 May 2012.

I am pleased to inform you that the RTC Organising Committee has accepted your abstract, "Can nine people make a baby in one month? Revit Server may have the answer!" as a 75 Minute Presentation in the BIM Management & Collaboration stream, Advanced level.

Blah blah blah...

sign here XXXX 

Now where the hell is Wollongong????

Why Hello Kitty?

2012-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

While at AU2011, Dave from DOUREVIT asked me, "Whats the deal with the Hello Kitty Avatar?"

Unfortunately, the uploaded image got cropped. This is the full version:

I have always loved Shepard Fairey and his artwork. Don't know what i am talking about? Look here

The photo below was taken in a far off rural town in Thailand called Lamphun. The message resonates and travels far and wide....

Membrane Emulation and Suvarnabhumi Airport

2012-01-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

I have been fascinated by Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport for years. I have spent hours in the immigration lines wondering how to create parametric models of the different forms throughout the building. The scalloped concourses represent a special challenge because of the extensive use of membranes.

Right before christmas, i was up in the city doing my christmas shopping and it finally hit me! I could use adaptive components to emulate the membranes! Awesome. Here we go. The basic geometry is repetitive and symmetrical, so in this exercise, I will build a single bay and then repeat it later.

First up I placed a single Reference Point (RP) at the origin in a Conceptual Mass Family. Then I placed 2 additional RPs in the same place, creating new parameters to control their OFFSET value. Then I hosted an parameter-driven ellipse on the vertical plane of each RP.

With this basic work done, I adjust the RPs into position shown below. I hosted a third RP at the intersection of the ellipses for use later on.

Next up, I created an extruded form using the upper-most ellipse. Controlling positive and negative offsets using parameters as well.

The form of the concourses are extruded tubes with wedges cut out. Now that i had the tube, I need to cut the wedge.

I went back to that first RP at the origin and mounted three more points. The offsets of these also controlled by deliberate parameters. The topmost RP was linked to the overall height of the form, with 1000mm added to avoid errors. The bottom RP is intended to be manually matched to the RP which lives at the intersection of the ellipses. The RP in the middle is controlled by a ratio of the overall height.

Then, on the vertical planes of these 3 new RPs, i mounted another pair of RPs, controlling their offsets parametrically as well. Connecting the points using lines, I end up with trapezoid like you see below (this is a lot easier to understand if you play with the family posted below!)

With that trapezoid created, I can extrude and subtract it from my initially extruded ellipse.

At this point, I create an adaptive component which is made of 3 points and a model line curve connecting them.

Inserting the adaptive component into my original family i host its points on the edges of my wedge-cut AND the other, lower, ellipse from step one of this exercise. I make sure that the points at the edges are hosted at the intersection of the edge and the plane of the middle point.

With the first one set, i can drag several copies along the line, adjusting their hosted position so they are all equidistant.

Select all the adaptive components, hit the Create Form button and BANG!

Now i have a parameter driven surface that looks and behaves a lot like a membrane!

And then when i start to multiply it out it gets right to the basic geometry i am looking for.

Conquering Bangkok one useless model at a time!

You can download the model here

Makin Trouble on New Years Eve

2012-01-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

So how did you spend your New Years Eve? I stumbled upon a party at a massage shop in Phuket.

Start with a dozen Thai massage girls, add one public holiday, a stereo, and copious amounts of Thai whiskey and you get this...

And this...

Happy New Year from the BIMTroublemaker Global Ministries HQ in Phuket Thailand...Let's hope the Mayans are wrong eh?

the most wonderful time of the year

2011-12-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

Off to Phuket for Christmas and New Years. In the area? Hollar at bimtroublemaker@gmail.com

Best in 2012!

Tropical Christmas Tree

New Years Eve Candle Lighting and Make a Wish

Sunser....F-Snow

Santa!

Parametric Ellipsoid

2011-12-18T18:52:00.000-08:00

I recently received a model in 3d max from some hotshot kid who took some spheres and squeezed and stretched them and placed glass panels between them because he thought it would be cool. and now i have to rationalize this form in revit. What a Conceptual M-asshole!

If you have ever tried to stitch 3 ellipses together on the X, Y & Z planes, you'll be familiar with this error:

then i remembered this post on Builz about creating pebbles...and then i thought about adaptive components and hosting points on intersections...and the bulb lit up. Awesome, here we go.

First setup my driving ellipses

Then i added a bunch of reference planes, and inserted reference points hosted at the intersections:

I created an adaptive ellipse family, where the ellipse dimensions are controlled by placement point distance from the origin. The actual ellipse model line is in a nested family to prevent the universe from collapsing in on itself:

I inserted one of these families on every reference plane, and linked the placement points to the earlier created reference points (you can see the glowing blue nodes). Tedious but I was starting to feel really good now.

After I selected the nested model lines and hit the CREATE FORM button, voila! Parameter Driven Ellipsoid!

Company property so no download.....but i am sure if you are reading this blog, you can figure out how to get it sorted.

Platonic Balls

2011-12-12T01:05:00.000-08:00

I keep myself pretty anonymous online. Its deliberate really.
And then i go to AU, and write my secret identity on my name tag so i can meet people easier. (I am shy!)
A side effect is that when people learn about my alter-ego, many start telling me about all the trouble they are making with parametric families.
One fellow, Mr. Kelvin Tam of NBBJ, was ecstatic to meet me because he had been working on a parametric soccer ball and somehow knew that i would appreciate it.

Well actually Kelvin, I am an NFL guy and I HATE soccer...but i do appreciate monkey business on this scale!

His email started with this explanation of Platonic Solids

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_solid

Which is a discussion that wnet completely over my head.

Then i got into the meat of the matter. Picked one of the patches and opened it up

Ok. Looks like a disc thats cut by some voids.

But when you look at the dimensioning that going on, thats where i was impressed...because it had to be programmed so that not all sides were equal. I especially like the dimension that controls the radius of the sphere that trails off into space.

Here is the parameters for this patch:

Pretty straight-forward. Then i took a look at the faces all these families are hosted on. Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Stop The Clock!

And then the parameter stack that is controlling this mess in the host family:

Anyone who ends a formula with 4 closed parenthesis is okay by me. Kelvin, I have no idea how you did all this, but i am very sure you care alot. I salute your passion!

You can find the family for download here:

Soccer Ball.rfa
(I replaced original file with a ZIP file so it should work now)

How to Get Ahead in Architecture

2011-12-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

#AU2011 is done. Another year in the can. Lots of good stuff. And a bloody nose from the dry air.

This is the first time i have had the chance to sit in a talk by Phil Read. It wasn't about wacky crap you can do with Revit families but about something MUCH more important. He spoke about how architectural education virtually cripples us right out of the gate and potentially dooms us to a life of being undervalued wage slaves.

If you are a high school or college student contemplating getting into architecture, this lecture addresses some ways to make the best out of what is a potentially dubious decision. Its worth reading.

Really worth it if you aspire to ever get out from under the thumb of "The Man"

Download the materials here:
http://www.architecture-tech.com/2011/11/making-more-in-tough-times-ab2340.html

As an interesting aside, here are Phil Bernstein's thoughts on graduating from architecture school into the current market. Some similar ideas and themes....

http://philbernstein.typepad.com/phil-bernsteins-blog/2011/11/winter-commencement.html

See y'all next year.

Has anyone else noticed this?

2011-11-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

I was telling one of my colleagues about AU and why its the most wonderful week of the year...

....And what kind of positive impact this event has had on my career

....And how it has been worth it to pay for the thing out of my own pocket some years

...And what a great value it is when you consider that the meals and hotel are INCLUDED!!!!

I started telling him about all the tips and tricks i learn at the event and how it has made me the Fire-Breathing-CAD-Monster that i am today....

The first class i ever sat in was a Lynn Allen "90 tips in 90 minutes" rundown of all the new features in AutoCAD 2006. I was awestruck...

....not just by the material (which was awesome for an AU freshman)

....not just by Lynn's enthusiasm for the material (i thought i was the only person who got excited by CAD tips and tricks)

....but also by the big bodyguards who escorted her out of the hall and around for the week. (I guess when you're the only hot blonde in a sea of CAD geeks, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.)

No disrespect is intended to Lynn by this post. I think she is GREAT...i just thought the whole situation was kind of amusing. So i am describing this to my co-worker, and i decide to look up "Lynn Allen" on Google Images to illustrate my point...

"Lynn Allen on Google Images"

As we are looking at the pictures, there is another quite attractive blonde who has several photos mixed in. And that's when i realize that the real name of Ginger Lynn, 80's Porn Star, also happens to be "Lynn Allen"

ouch...

AU 2012 starts now....

I thought he was referring to me

2011-10-11T06:45:00.000-07:00

The Trouble With BIM

Its a very interesting article. It seems that a lot of the facts are finally bubbling up through the fiction. It doesn't discredit us, but a more realistic picture is coming to the fore.

"While I like the vision and the commitment to this drive to improve efficiency in the UK construction market, I am worried about where we are now as an industry versus where Mr Morrell wants the industry to be in five years, especially considering the capabilities of the current BIM software, the average user’s skill-set and the general lack of experience in completing 3D BIM projects in the UK.

The other dynamic at play here is the ingrained culture of working and the contract structures that do not reflect the shared risk/rewards that a truly collaborative project would require. BIM is not just about buying some software and training, it is about learning to work with other project participants differently and striving to make efficiencies."

All the more reason i am thrilled to see governments kicking industry in the a55 to get moving on this. The same process is underway in Singapore, although with a bit more financial support from the government.

The technology isn't new. It isn't 'untested'. Lets cut the crap and get on with it already.

Today i was in a meeting with one of the design directors from one of the largest projects going on in the country and representatives from the Building Construction Authority. In explaining his company's position on mandating BIM for the job , this design director gave me the quote of a lifetime.

"We are builders. We count every nut and bolt. If we didn't believe this was worth it, we wouldn't be doing it. We're not doing it because of a theory. We aren't doing it for the future. We are doing it because its what we need to do in order to finish this project effectively"

I owe that guy another pack of imported contraband chewing gum.

Noah's Loaf - Curtain Panel Goodness

2011-09-21T06:23:00.000-07:00

This step took some tenacity...But tenacity starts with "T" which stands for Trouble!

First step is to do this with a curtain panel by pattern:

If you don't know what it is, shame on you! Go read here:

Au Bon Panel

Thank you Bob-Man and Shaggy

So with that panel pattern in my back pocket, i could go ahead and start screwing around with my base model from last time:

For what became my first attempt (thought this would be easy), I started by picking the edges between each rib and hitting the CREATE FORM button.

I did this several times to fill the whole boat

And then divided the surface and applied the appropriate Curtain Panel Pattern:

It looked okay at first blush, but upon closer inspection, the shell edges weren't squaring up right. Actually, they looked downright sloppy:

I'd rather be accused of fastidiousness than having too much time on my hands...Semantic argument for sure....nonetheless i tried again.

This time I took the "Tedious Brute Strength" approach. First off, i hosted a bunch of reference points along the shell profile:

And repeated this process for all 3 profiles and it worked exactly as i wanted:

Then I hosted a parameter driven rectangle on each reference point. CREATE FORM again and voila!

It worked as expected,

but 2 problems remained:

1) All my lengths were now curved and i wanted straight segments, broken at each joint for scheduling and measurement

2) It was a damn lot of work and i got bored

Okay...Trial #3!

Because I set up the original Curtain Panel Pattern using the correct point orientation, I realized i could do the whole shell in one shot. The trick was going to be to use DIVIDE BY INTERSECTION in order to control the break points:

My segments divide out properly. If i did some work with reporting parameters, I could get some cool data out of this. Implanting MODEL LINES in the curtain panel would give me a structural stick model too!

The joints go straight through which i am not overly keen on, but i suppose if i wanted it perfect, i could take it into Rhino or ACAD and perform some additional boolean operations...

yikes....what a day....

It's my Birthday

2011-09-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

No Really.

Today is my birthday....and i really hate it.

With consideration and gratitude on a horrible anniversary.

TBT

Slicing Noah's Loaf

2011-09-04T03:34:00.000-07:00

Previously, I went through an explanation of how to develop this form. In this post, i will look at the process of slicing it up.

First things first, i laid out a series of reference lines along the length of loaf. I then went ahead programmed some parameters to control the spacing of these lines which are intended to locate the center between ribs.

These are the parameters involved:

Then I pick each line individually and hit the CREATE FORM button. It extrudes a nice 2D surface upwards.

This is where it gets interesting. Then i pick the edge lines of each surface, you may have to hit the TAB key once or twice to cycle through the options. Having selected the edges of the surface, i hit CREATE FORM again and a box is extruded.

I link the positive and negative offsets of the box to the VOID_Thickness Half parameters.

And the boxes all line out to exactly how i want:

And I can start slicing using the CUT command....

Oh how happy I am!

Until i try to flex the form, which was the point of the whole exercise anyways, and then:

AAARARRARAGGGGGHHH!!!!! I made the fatal error of using model lines to define the ends of my form. I go back and start from scratch, generating the profiles as REFERENCE LINES!!!! 9 out of 10 times, when forms don't do what i want, its because i used model lines rather than reference lines. I am a forgetful troublemaker sometimes....grrrr....

But NOW, I am kickin' it with a big smile.....

Star Wars - Lego Porn

2011-08-27T02:43:00.000-07:00

A long time ago, I gave up the right to think that anybody has too much time on their hands....

I love this kind of crap...Its probably old news but when a guy who calls himself 'Marshall Banana' makes a 3 foot long Sandcrawler out of Legos, I don't think there could be enough recognition and applause.

Marshall's Flickr Gallery

Work in Progress Images

Good on you buddy!

Noah's Loaf - Resorts World Sentosa

2011-08-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

I am a strong proponent of learning to use the Conceptual Massing Editor in Revit by modeling the buildings we see everyday. Well, this one, The Maritime Museum at Resorts World Sentosa, had been bothering me for a while.

I am not aiming to accuratley recreate the form. I am more interested in generating a family that could get me there! So in this post i'll tackle the general, boat-like shape and in another week I'll go for the ribs and other stuff. So join me as we look at how i did this...

and this...

and this...

Its a long way to the top....

This is the list of parameters if anyone is interested, notice that none of them are reporting parameters, this is all straight-forward behavior.

Here is a link to the family:

Noahs Ark.RFA

Authentic Vietnamese Pho

2011-08-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since posting. I have been traveling....and I went to Ho Chi Minh City. This isn't a food blog, I know, but this place is worth mentioning because it was awesome.

I got a tip on this place from a random HCMC food guide. The review is at the bottom of the page, they said:

Ut Nhung: 109/7 Nguyen Thien Thuat Street, Dist.3.

Jon Dillingham from the What's On Guide to Ho Chi Minh City claims this is one of the best phở shacks in the city: "This tiny phở shack doesn't have a menu," he writes. "The little hole-in-the-wall doesn't even have tra da, drinks are supplied by neighboring vendors. All Ut Nhung does is make one kind of pho: phở bo tai nam (pho with rare beef and well-done beef flank). They serve one of the best versions of this dish in town for VND11,000. In a hem off Guitar Street where Districts 1, 3, 5 and 10 meet, Ut Nhung has no sign. Just look for the tiny house with a huge cauldron of broth tended to by a bald lady surrounded by hungry pho eaters.
"The broth here is extra fatty and marrow is served in your soup. The raw meat is healthy and red before thrown into your bowl. The taste of the rare beef is likely to be some of the freshest you'll ever have in a city.
"Pho in Vietnam is a lot like burgers and fries in America or fish and chips in the UK: hundreds of places do it well, but special places like Ut Nhung make it nearly perfect."

With a recommendation like that, I had to give it a shot!

We found it pretty easily and though there was a language barrier, these people were so happy we'd come, they bent over backwards to help us out. We asked for cold water but the shop didn't have anything, so they grabbed a guy with a motorbike from the house next door and sent him off to 7-11 for us...It was awesome.

Google Map to the general area:

View Nguyen Thien Thuat - Guitar Street in a larger map

Found the street:

Found a guitar shop

Found the Alley

This is the guitar shop at the alley entrance

This is the place....Both the smell and the fact that it was the only PHO shop in eyesight gave it away.

"Mr.Only-Guy-In-The-Neighborhood-Who-Speaks-English" and "Mrs. Brisket-Chopper"

The Menu. Direct, to the point.... In the morning, they serve the clear broth Pho that most foreigners know and love. In the afternoons, its the hearty, marrow-laden stew that i can no longer imagine living without!

The Broth...I'd like to make a request for the AUGI Beer-Bust next year!

Chopping the Brisket

Into the broth....this is how heaven on earth is created....

Some Noodles

Some garnish...

And Voila!

If you are in the area, I highly recommend it....

Regularly scheduled REVIT Non-Sense will return shortly...

Comment Tracking Using Noteblock Scheduling

2011-06-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

BACKDROP 1:

A long time ago, I came across a very talented young man named Justin Rumley who was working for a facade manufacturer in the Mid-west on the Sprint Center. He was giving me a model of all the facade embeds and parts and pieces. The model was very good, very accurate, but i asked him why he had done it all in Sketchup when there were so many other more sophisticated tools around. His comment was very straightforward and i have always remembered it:

"Sometimes SMART is DUMB, and DUMB is SMART"

This statement alone could be the basis of a lengthy discourse....for another day.

BACKDROP 2:

I recently had a brief email discussion with some other voices from the blog-o-sphere about the various strengths and weakness of the many available 3d and online collaboration tools. How some of them don't yet play well REVIT....tracking documents, comments and changes is still a bit of a hassel...etc. etc....no holy grail yet exists...

THE CURRENT SITUATION

The builder/client for my current project is very dedicated to using Revit and has trained up a crew to both review our models for coordination and manipulate the models for their own use. A coordination reporting work flow was developed where they would:

Create a model called COMMENTS.RVT
Link our submitted design models into their COMMENTS.RVT
Create a series of sheets with plans, sections and 3D views to illustrate the coordination errors.
Print and send us PDFs of these sheets. Just PDFs, nothing more.

A rather simplistic method to communicate errors, but effective for certain...yet one problem existed. Their comments were all made as simple text with leaders on the sheets, thus couldn't be tracked without a ton of additional, separate effort. I watched the guy on the architectural team struggle as he spent more than 2/3 of his time organizing the comments into an excel spreadsheet so we could respond/act appropriately. A similar amount of time is wasted finding a view in our own models to examine the problem

We spent far more time organizing the data and finding the problems than correcting the errors. Effective system? Yes. Efficient system? HELL NO!

BIMTroublemaker to the rescue!

Trying to get the team to start using navis to review and generate comments isn't really an option. Additionally, the documents they were sending us were extremely effective at describing the problems. The problem lay in how comments are generated, tracked and resolved.

I recently found the NOTEBLOCK schedule in Revit's bevy of scheduling tools and realized that a solution could be found there:

This schedule will track pieces of annotation and their parameters.

Sooooo....I made a simple generic annotation that would graphically show a comment and a number:

I loaded additional text parameters in the family like this:

unfortunately, i couldn't automate either the sheet/view reference or the errant condition locational parameters....maybe on the next job.

but now, i can schedule generate my note-block schedule and i get:

But wait, there's more!

Because I have taken the FUZZY MATH ESSENTIALS course at AU, I was able to figure out a slick way to make the comment change color according to its status! The trick with this is controlling status through a series of fixed check boxes. There is even an error message that comes up when more than one box is checked, or no boxes are checked!

This is the programming if anyone is interested:

Sure, navis and tekla bimsight and horizontal glue are really great programs. I like them. But this tool works in a very simple and DUMB work flow:

Client sends me his COMMENTS.RVT (sans links its less than 5mb) along with a PDF print out showing what they want to illustrate
We open the COMMENTS.RVT, link in our current design models, which will then show up in all the preset views.
Address the comments accordingly and version the COMMENTS.RVT model
Send COMMENTS.RVT back and forth until all comments are resolved

Yahtzee! The architect is really happy. The client guy is really happy. Dumb is Smart, Smart is Dumb. And i feel like i did something useful...rather than the other monkey-business i spend my time screwing around with.

Download a sample of the block here:

Trackable Comment Annotation.RFA

BTW, if anyone knows the whereabouts of Justin Rumley, I'd love to hear from him. BIMTROUBLEMAKER@gmail.com

TBT

Complex Rigging pt.3 - and now for something completely useless

2011-06-03T02:45:00.000-07:00

Once i saw Phil Read's crazy star. I tried to build it and succeeded. but this was long before i figured out how to use surface patterns and nodes. This is going to be a little variation on the star things, with a bit of David Light's ideas about helixes thrown in.

Make 3 reference circles with parameter-driven radii. Connect them and suck in the waist line.

divide the surface so that there are only 2 panels vertically.

Go to the SURFACE REPRESENTATION and pick NODE. Place Reference Points on the appropriate nodes. Pick them 3 at a time and hit the CONNECT POINTS WITH LINES button. Once you have gone all the way around, you should have something like this

I placed a reference point on each leg which hosts a circle to make some bones. I dunno why but i had to do this individually for each leg....and i got this:

I brought the assembly into a project environment, copied it and rotated it a bit and got this:

see...absolutley worthless...

BIM Related Lawsuit: Sounds like Trouble to me....

2011-05-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

A board member at a very successful architectural practice once told me that "We get paid to DESIGN the buildings, not build them"

Case in point from Architectural Record:
BIM Lawsuit Offers Cautionary Tale

How long until this story gets blown wildly out of proportion?

BCA Buildsmart Conference

2011-04-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

Speaking at BCA Buildsmart today.

Can you spot the troublemaker in this lineup?

http://conference.sgcpw.com/build-smart-conference/speakers-biographies/track-1-bim-and-construction-i-t/

Revit Server Et Tu!

2011-04-24T05:35:00.000-07:00

We installed Revit Server on my current project because we had to leverage labor from remote offices in Australia. We also had some staff available from an office in Spain.

Getting their help seemed like a really good idea at the time, but there was a bit of a challenge with the language barrier. Luckily, we have a wonderful woman on staff from mexico and she was able to translate the instructions...instant classic:

La ventaja del SERVIDOR DE REVIT es que no debe usted de crear directories o nada en su maquina local. Tampoco tiene que copiar cosas atravez del servidor, no se tienen que recrear los directories. Todo lo que necesita hacer es seguir estas instrucciones:

Primero asegurarse de que esta conectado al servidor correcto

Paso 1) Atravez de la pestana que dice “Collaborate”, hacer click como se indica

I can't post the whole document here, but it was a really fun exercise...

Este es el paso mas importante, cuando usted abre uno de estos modelos, cerciorese de que el boton de Crear New Local esta activado como se muestra abajo.

Viva La Raza! Viva La Revolucion! Viva Revit!

Lego Architecture

2011-04-17T18:07:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool for anyone in the DC based CAD/Design-geek community! The Lego Exhibit at the National Building Museum in DC!

Blogger Review:
http://designquarterly.com.au/events/sky-scraping-lego

Museum Website:
http://www.nbm.org/exhibitions-collections/exhibitions/lego-architecture.html

Steppin Out Thick

2011-04-08T05:34:00.000-07:00

Heres a weird problem a user flagged up to me the other day.

He had a simple, Monolithic (Concrete) Stair...like this one:

But we needed to make the stairs 500mm thick for blast purposes. So he changed the parameter:

And got this:

Weird huh? That first step is a doozy! And the second ain't much better.

Any thoughts from the Global Revit Hive-Mind?

Family Abuse - Curtain Panel By Patterns Edition

2011-03-31T04:27:00.000-07:00

I cut my teeth in this BIM thing using Architectural Desktop (ADT). I loved that program a lot. I still have a real fondess for it, but that's a moot point for this column. At my first AU conference, i saw a presentation about using RAIL objects to model any type of repetitive, linear element. I loved the concept and quickly started playing around. But all that is old news now...

I struggled for a while trying to figure out how i could use the same "RAIL" logic of modeling repeating linear elements in Revit. It seemed to me that the rail tool in Revit is a bit more rigid in what type of objects it accepts....maybe i am not looking close enough...and then one day POW! It hit me like a bolt from the blue. CURTAIN PANEL PATTERNS could be the way!

First thing I did to test out this theory was to create a reference line CURVE BY POINTS and then hit the CREATE FORM button to give myself a surface. I divided the surface and it looks like this:

Because i made sure to use a Reference Line, I can grab any of the driving points and adjust the curve manually later. These points could also be parameter driven if you want that kind of control.

The next step involves creating a Curtain Panel Pattern based upon the RECTANGLE template. Zach and Robert Manna did a great presentation at AU last year that involved a good discussion on how to control the behavior of the reference points. You will need to understand this behavior in order to make this type of model work. Go download the handout here:

Au Bon Panel: Baking Your Own Adaptive Components and Panels with Revit

The bit I am concerned with starts on page 6. Have you looked it over? Good.

In this case I am making a linear canopy. I like using nested objects so I went ahead and made a generic mass to act as the repeating vertical element. 2 things to notice in the image below:

1) The object is being built in plan. This is because of how i planned to mount it on the reference planes in the curtain panel. The lesson is that in this exercise UNDERSTANDING YOUR HOST PLANES, HOST POINTS AND ORIENTATIONS ARE CRUCIAL!!!

2) The top mass is transparent so you can see the line work I drew. These lines will control the shape and location of my glazing panels and horizontal mullions. Its easier to set up any desired sectional parametric relationships here. Trust me!

Now if you have read Zach and Robert's Handout, you will be very clear of about whats going on in the picture below.

1) I set up the offsets for the reference points as they describe.

2) Then i connect the offset point to the adaptive point upon which it is hosted with a reference line.

3) Host a point on that reference line

4) Host my generic mass on that point, in proper alignment.

5) Create reference lines on any section guidelines and create desired horizontal forms.

6) Try again because I did it wrong the first time (repeat as needed)

Load that into the curved surface family, apply it to the divided surface and once you have done it all properly... you'll get this:

When I did mine, i noticed that the end pieces looked funny. That condition went away when i adjusted the border tile settings:

And once you get it sorted in 2d, you can pull the curve's driving points vertically....

Download the family here:

Curtain Panel Canopy Model.rfa

And the stage is now set for The REVIT ROLLER COASTER Plug-in...I hear its in the works for the 2013 release...

Degrees, Diameters and Exponents

2011-03-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

"%%D Doesn't Work!!!!"

I can hear the converts from AutoCAD chuckling....

I have been perplexed for a long time about how to get different symbols to come up in my Revit annotations.

The degree symbols, diameter symbols, exponents, greek characters.

The other day i finally got off my lazy but and did a search. Google sent me to Revit City and I found this a forum post on how to do it:

Forums >> Revit Building >> Technical Support >> how to type degree symbol in text

To check the mapping on your machine, go to your START BUTTON and follow this:

Its takes you to the character mapping set and you'll get this panel:

and this...

Mapping is indicated in the bottom right corner and I am a happy man...

Yeah i know its old news but cut me some slack, i am still pretty new to the party...

A strange error with divide surface by pattern

2011-03-17T02:22:00.000-07:00

Found this the other day while screwing around.

Fist I'll make a sexy, dynamic surface.

Then I'll divide it up using the DIVIDE SURFACE tool.

Then I'll insert 2 solid forms, cut and create 3 surfaces.

Now, I can assign different patterns to left, center, right surfaces.

I can even flex the form a little bit and retain the multiple patterns.

But if i delete the cutting form, or try to flex too far, it loses it....so be careful!

REVIT SERVER

2011-03-07T02:52:00.000-08:00

Do you work for a company that has more than one office? Do you occasionally need to collaborate with those offices using the same Revit Central File? Then it's time to:

We can't get enough production staff in Singapore for the project I am presently working on so we have had to engage workers located in our Australian offices. That did not go well at all. Our central file lived on a server in Singapore and the lag times involved with users synchronizing over the Wide Area Network (WAN) were absolutely crippling us.

At AU last year, I had heard rumblings about a recently developed piece of software designed to address this problem. I did a little research and the trail led to Robert Manna. He taught a class on it last year and presented a wealth of info about using Revit on a WAN. He was VERY helpful in briefing me on the solution. You can get at his EXTREMELY HELPFUL PRESENTATION FROM AU HERE.

This is the simplified explanation:

The master model is moved up to a CENTRAL SERVER. Each office location then sets up a LOCAL SEVER. The LOCAL and CENTRAL SERVERS talk to each other all day long through the WAN. Individual users then sync their models to their office's LOCAL SERVER through the Local Area Network. User don't have to interact with the WAN and everybody is happy. It works pretty sweet.

It took a bit of effort because the company I work for has a pretty complex network security system and uses multiple DNS addresses for our different locations. We received some excellent support from Autodesk in getting the system up and running. RS uncovered some open doors in our system and i think we found some unknown bugs in RS from the process. Many thanks to anyone from ADSK who helped out.

Its free if you are on subscription and if you work for a firm which uses Revit in more than one office, you need this tool at the ready in your arsenal. period. no excuses. Charlie sez PLAN BETTER, and i think it applies here!

The Synchro-Blog: Finding A BIM Job

2011-02-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

I thought this was an interesting post and worth sharing.

The Synchro-Blog: Finding a BIM Job

Made me think a bit about the post I wrote last year about What We Are Doing, Why We Are Doing It, and Can It Be Taught

Hey dude. Your blog is interesting. Drop me a line. BIMTROUBLEMAKER@GMAIL.COM

VASARI 1.1

2011-02-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Looks cool to me!

Got sidetracked from the complex rigging exercise due to meltdowns on the work front. Hope to get some experience with REVIT SERVER next week so that'll be good to report on soon.

I am counting the days until the Lion Dancing in Singapore ends....

looks fun sure...but its a lot like the spanish inquisition. Just when you've gotten comfortable....all is calm and peaceful....

BAM!!!

These bastards starts pounding and clanging and raising a ruckus....all i wanted was a cup of tea after a long day at the office...sometimes asia bites.

Chinese New Year in Bangkok

2011-02-03T21:23:00.000-08:00

Working in Asia, we don't always get time off for Christmas. The real holiday in Singapore is Chinese New Year...and its a great opportunity to go to Bangkok for a week...

CHINESE NEW YEARS on YAOWALAT ROAD, CHINATOWN, BANGKOK:

Paper Dragons

Entry to Chinatown

Temple Gate

Yaowalat Road

Offering Table

Knick-Knacks

Yaowalat Road

Temple of the Gold Buddha

Knick-Knack Vendors

Stewed Pork

Nice Doggy

Opera Actors

Lottery Ticket Vendor

Till next time...

Complex Rigging pt.2 - Skin That Sucker!

2011-01-21T20:43:00.000-08:00

In the last post, i created a fairly complex parametric mass to use as a rig. This week I'll look at using that rig to generate a changeable and (hopefully) graceful skin.

First i take my mass family that i generated last week:

Next I'll select a one of the vertically oriented faces and divide the surface. I TURN OFF THE HORIZONTAL LINES because they will only trip me up on the next couple of steps.

Next I go to the SURFACE REPRESENTATION options to turn NODE VISIBILITY ON.

Now my surface has a nice node at the top and bottom edge of every division. This is the part that won't work right if horizontal lines are still on.

After giving the same treatment to the inside surface, I start linking the points using the curve tool in 3D Snapping mode.

Working my way around and then hiding the rig form, I end up with all these reference lines:

Which i can start stitching together. For some reason REVIT wouldn't let me make half the form at one shot. I used a quarter of the form in this example, but you can go as far as ONE LESS THAN HALF the shape...i don't get it...

Applying a surface patterns to the new skin gives me:

Neat! And now, I have curvy skin that will respond to the parameters of my rig:

I used a pretty benign skin pattern here, but these are some examples of flexing different CURTAIN PANEL PATTERNS on the skin:

Some great comments on last weeks post. I love it when readers sound off!

On the topic of accuracy, I want to point to this Wikipedia page on "Accuracy" and "Precision". Its a fun semantic argument indeed.

Just as well, I think its worth noting that we are dealing with the CONCEPTUAL Massing Environment, not the FINISHED FORM, CONSTRUCTION & MANUFACTURING ACCURATE Massing Environment. There is a pretty wide distance between the 2 and REVIT, on the whole, can arguably cover alot of that ground, but I haven't found a tool yet that can cover ALL of it.

There's more in the pipeline on this....

Complex Rigging and Built Up Forms pt.1

2011-01-11T02:26:00.000-08:00

I just love talking with people at AU who want to give me their sob story about some young hot-rod architecture intern who came in and made a bunch of great forms in Rhino, and then sent them into 3dMAX and morphed them, and now they need to recreate these forms in Revit and can't figure out how to do it and waahh waahh...U CAN"T DO THAT IN REVIT.

There's certainly a deeper question of 'Why haven't the tools in the conceptual massing editor been picked up by students' but that's way far beyond the scope of my blog. What i am interested in is seeing how far I can push form generation with the tools i have.

There is a fellow i work with. Very talented young man. He is working in Digital Projects. And just from looking over his shoulder occasionally, i see his process involves a lot of stacking and interlinking of parametric elements. Its like a pyramid that slowly builds upwards. It doesn't seem too different from how i think about form generation in Revit.

With that in mind, I wanted to start looking at how I could build some interesting forms by creating more complex rigs, and then building upon them.

I want to start here:

Ambitious? Maybe. However, I am not interested in recreating the Bird's Nest. Hell no....though it is a very compelling form, one of these white elephants is enough....I am after the underlying geometry that makes this form possible...which is an oval shaped cone with a saddle shaped top...or at least that's where the affair starts!

So where to begin? How about a pair of ovals like these. I'll link the dimensions of the top oval to the bottom by sticking in a variable to control the incline angle.

To get the saddle shape at the top, I'll have to generate a void form to cut the initial oval-cone. It won't quite be a toroid, but the cutting surface will come close. First i have to develop a curve for the void form to sweep along.

The lengths of this curve are linked to the dimensions of the oval-cone.

Next I'll generate the void form using a bunch of dimensioned reference points placed at the ends of my sweeping curve.

And then i have 2 masses that look like this

change the cutting mass to a void, add an oval to cut a hole in the middle and bang!

With a little adjusting of the parameters, it gets pretty close to the basic mass of the bird's nest.

This is the list of the parameters:

This is the mass file:

SADDLE ENVELOPE RIG.RFA

This ought to be fun to play with until the NDA on the new release expires...

Stair Planning Tool Version 2.0

2011-01-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Lets face it, the stair tool in REVIT is quite cool, but when it comes to actually planning stairs it a bit less helpful than we would hope.

I did a post last year lamenting the situation and how i got around the problem by making a silly little 2d/3d rig to help me plan stairs....see it here.

In November, i had the honor of joining Kelly Cone and Jason Grant to put on a rockin' class at AU called FUZZY MATH ESSENTIALS. If you missed it...well...don't be a putz and come to AU next year.

During the class, Jason proved exactly what kind of over-achiever he is by presenting an insanely detailed stair family that was used on a project in his office....as an extension of that presentation, Jason has offered up a REALLY AWESOME FULLY 3d STAIR PLANNING FAMILY!

Revit Stair Planning Family from Jason Grant on Vimeo.

Go see his post on the topic and download that sucker if you want it!

Lady GaGa Christmas

2010-12-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Ho Ho Ho....

Captain Hippo-Lady Gaga's Christmas Album from Captain Hippo on Vimeo.

BIMTrouble Maker Global Ministries is closed until 2011....

Tron Cometh....

2010-12-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

oh yeah...now i'm excited...

Notes from AU

2010-12-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

This was the highlight of the week, bar none. John D. Rockefeller meets Dr.Evil...

Followed closely by the special screening of a clip from the upcoming TRON film. 6000+ CAD Geeks in one place, I think they nailed the target audience.

And speaking of getting nailed, when I told my girlfriend bout the male/female ratio at this thing, she said next year she would send some of her single friends over to cruise for guys.

At one point I was chatting with Carl Bass, and he did tell me about the ADSK secret prize…a free one-year subscription if you can prove that you hooked up at AU. Seriously, has anyone EVER scored at this event?

I really liked having the event at Mandalay Bay. The meeting room levels at Venetian always felt too small, or my a55 has gotten way too big from doing nothing but pumping CAD over the years.

Robert Manna’s Baby Picture on his AU Class professor page was priceless. I can’t believe they let him get on the plane by himself….let alone teach a class. Congrats on the birth of number one. Glad you took the time to come!

While I'm doing shout outs, I finally got to meet Zach Khron...If Shaggy from Scooby Doo had listened to more punk rock and went to MIT, I think he would be doing the Buildz blog too...

Revit Gunslinger….Wait, u mean I have convinced these guys that I know what I’m doing? But it was very cool to meet some of the hardworking staff that put out Revit. It was great to help test out next years release and I hope I can continue to be involved in the future.

Ran into Carl Bass a couple of times through out the event. Very Nice guy. Very approachable. He also got a kick out of the Emiliy Pilloton from Studio H who stood up on the main stage and repeatedly said “CORN-HOLE” during the opening keynote. A full write up of the opening keynote can be found here, Core77 did a bang up job writing about the event

The exhibit hall was cool. The Tesla Sedan from Tuesday morning was in there for people to drool on up close. You could have your head scanned and get a model made of it. You could sit on Carl’s Stone bench…Some other nice exhibit pieces.

The vendors could be summed up as:

BIM in ‘The Cloud’
Win a free iPad
Hot 3d printer sales chick who couldn’t answer questions, but sure draws a crowd. ( But i think she was there last year too....)

I took part in my first teaching presentation with Jason Grant and Kelly Cone. We kicked ass according to the reviews:

One of the best of the best at AU!
Basically, due to the presenters, this class is the highlight of the entire AU 2010 conference for me!
Best AU Session this Year. Congrats on a Job well Done!
By following the simple steps from this presentation, I lost fifteen pounds, doubled my income, and became a better wife and mother! Thanks BIMTroublemaker!

Lets do it again next year! Yee haw!

Curtain Panel Truss Applied to Other Forms

2010-11-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

These are images of some additional messing around i did with the Panel Truss Idea. I think it it starts to bust through the "You Can't Do That in Revit" Glass Ceiling. Only limit is our imaginations right? But first, one more plug....

Come see me, THE BIM TROUBLEMAKER, at AU 2010. Myself and 2 other VERY talented and experienced Revit users will be presenting the course:

FUZZY MATH ESSENTIALS FOR REVIT FAMILY BUILDERS

Course number AB327-4 Wedensday after lunch

If you aspire to be a family building bad-ass, don't miss this class....seriously!

When David B. from Do U Revit taught this course in 2008, he turned me into the troublemaker I am. Hope to see YOU there!

And now...more truss panel monkey business....

Tower/Column Form

The horizontal divisions were created using DIVIDE by INTERSECTION

Wavy Surface

Mobius Truss

and now...onwards to Vegas....

Parametric Trusses via Curtain Panels 02: Arch Trusses

2010-11-20T18:32:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from my last entry, i wanted to push the idea further. A simple straight truss is pretty easy, but what about arched, triangular trusses? This is where the fun really started.

First i made some adjustments to the panel pattern i was using. I connected the reference points of the grid using the "Connect Points with Curve" command.

Using the right command is important because otherwise it won't properly generate the form downstream. i then linked the visibility of these lines to the visibility of the different forms of the truss frame.

Then i created a rig in the conceptual mass editor. An arc controls the overall geometry while some triangles nested at the ends and center generate the desired form of the truss.

Generating the truss form, i then pick and divide the individual surfaces, applying my Truss Panel Pattern

Once all the surfaces have had the panel applied, I have to pick each panel and setup the sides which are on and off. A bit tedious, but you can apply to several similar panels concurrently.

So with this done, we can cycle through a bunch of different sizes pretty quickly.

And this what i like best....I can export one of these trusses to DWG format. when i open it up in ACAD, I get this:

Because i implanted the model lines within the Panel Pattern family, with a little bit of creative deleting, I can have this:

A nice wire frame i can give to the engineers so they can analyze my truss quicker, with less guess work! Collaboration at its finest!

download the arch truss family here: Panelized Arch Truss.rfa
Lastly, a shameless plug.....

Come see me, THE BIM TROUBLEMAKER, at AU 2010. Myself and 2 other VERY talented and experienced Revit users will be presenting the course:

FUZZY MATH ESSENTIALS FOR REVIT FAMILY BUILDERS

Course number AB327-4 Wedensday after lunch

If you aspire to be a family building bad-ass, don't miss this class....seriously!

When David B. from Do U Revit taught this course in 2008, he turned me into the troublemaker I am. Hope to see YOU there!

Parametric Trusses via Curtain Panels

2010-10-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have long been frustrated by REVIT's inability to divide curves equally. Its a nifty command in both ACAD and Bentley, but for what ever reason, I can't do this in REVIT yet...with a hopeful emphasis on 'yet'.

So rather than sit around, pout, and send incendiary emails to the program design team, I sought a work around. The first question is "Why do i want to do this anyways'?

Well, to make an adujsutable truss of course!

After screwing around with Curtain Panels by Pattern for a while, I found a pretty decent work around. It isn't perfect, but with a little planning, this methodology can go a long way.

First off, I have to make my Panel Pattern. In this case i have based it upon the rectangle template, but you can certainly do it with triangles as well.

I linked the reference points at the corners with reference lines and extruded solids along the lengths. Visibility of all the forms is controlled independantly, which will become clearer in a minute.

Next i started a truss form in the conceptual mass editor using a simple rig. I created reference lines to become the top and bottom of the truss, with circles hosted on reference points at the ends to control the bar diameter. Then i hit the Create Form button to create a surface between the lines.

Next comes the fun part. I divide this created surface and turn OFF the U Divisions. Obviously, I can now change the number of divisions to my hearts content (which is what i wanted in the first place!)

I'll apply the pattern I created earlier and it looks like this, not quite what i am after visually...

Remember that i said the visibility of all forms in the Panel Pattern were controlled individually? By picking panels individually, I control the bar locations and direction. I can also eliminate duplicates later on if i want to schedule the elements.

So now i have a parameter driven simple truss. All the bar sizes can be controlled easily. Also I can change the number of panel divisions to make it larger or smaller, but when i do that, the bar visibility that i set up goes pear-shaped. But like I said, with a bit of planning, I can get around this in my project by setting up multiple families and using design options.

You can dowload this example here:

Truss Simple.RFA

2D Stair Design in REVIT?!?!?! Huh?

2010-09-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is a step backwards.

Maybe i just don't understand the program well enough.

I am open to such daggars being thrown.

Sometimes i have to deal with some pretty tight stairways...and sometimes i have to do scissor stairs...and quite frankly, I haven't found REVIT to be too good with the trial and error this process can sometimes involve.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe i'll learn some new tricks at AU this year. But for the time being, I need a solution, i know a thing or two about making useful families.

So i made this stupid 2D stair design tool (download links at the bottom of this post).

Its driven by the height of the stair and the number of steps to determine riser height. There is also a thick red line to show head clearance. Once i have the whole thing laid out properly, inserting the REVIT Stair objects is a snap by using the ALIGN tool.

First i make the individual STEP unit

These are the parameters for the STEP unit. I used shared parameters for everything. Even though the Height Clearance parameter has nothing to with this family, I pull the information back to this object so the tag works properly.

Then i put all these together into a flight. There are some conditional On/Off parameters, the logic of which will be discussed in the FUZZY MATH course at AU this year.

These are the parameters for the flight. Its all pretty basic really.

Then i bring it into a project and BANG, i can monkey around with a stair pretty quick and easy.

BTW, I did this in 2010 and boy did that suck. I really gotta a get an update to 2011 on my PC....Just waiting for the realease that runs native on a MAC and then i'll replace the whole kit and kaboodle...i hope i ain't gotta wait too long....

Here is the family in a project. If you are reading this, you already know how to get the family out there and into your library. Enjoy!

Stair Tool.rvt

Can BIM be 'Taught'?

2010-08-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

Do you ever stop and ask yourself how you got ‘Here’? Not in the existential sense (i.e. of the origins of life), nor in the explicit sense of reading this blog, but rather ‘How did I become a BIM-Guy/Gal?’

Some of us come from an architectural background, some an engineering, some computer science. My mentor was an older guy who had already had a career as a dry-wall contractor and went back to school to get a Technical Degree in CAD and he just went up and onwards from there.

My background is in architecture. I had done design work in 3D at an Architecture firm for many years. One day the phone rang, and my mentor said “I have work and you are the guy to do it. When can you start?” In 2 weeks I was working for a construction company, building a model of an arena in Architectural Desktop. I didn’t know what ‘BIM’ was, all I knew was that they had given me a substantial pay increase to engage in the same kind of activity I had been doing all along, but now it had a fancy name! I have bounced around between design, construction and engineering ever since.

My point is that I didn’t go to school specifically for whatever this is I do now. On my company business card it says “BIM Coordinator”. In the past I have been called “3D Specialist”, “Design Phase Coordinator”, but my favorite was “3D Maven” I consider myself an architect with exceptional skills at manipulating software, and lots of experience in using 3D as a design tool through all phases of construction. If anyone dared call me a “CAD Manager”, they wouldn’t have a chance to say it twice.

I imagine that if you are reading this, you are also a person with a diverse educational/career background. What it says on your business card and the actual value you bring to your position are probably quite different. What ties us together isn’t limited to just software proficiency or intellectual curiosity or design creativity or a love for Star Wars…I think there is something unquantifiable that under-girds it all. Dare I call it ‘Passion’?

So if we take a moment to consider ‘How did we get here?’ I have been thinking that the next question might be ‘How do I bring others?’

Which brings me to the spark for this missive in the first place:

Can BIM be taught?

How is BIM being addressed conceptually in schools? For that matter, is there a ‘Theory’ behind what we are doing? I know there are many PHD’s out there studying the quantifiable effects of BIM, but that’s not what I am referring to at all.

In an institutional setting what would a BIM course or curriculum look like?

(I wonder if Carl Bass is reading this and thinking to himself “It looks like AU!”)

A quick search online yeilds some interesting results...

They are teaching BIM in Texas High Schools:

Dallas News on BIM in High School

An online BIM University with zero class offerings:

BIM Education University

The USC School of Architecture does an annual Symposium, as do several other colleges I imagine:
USC BIM Symposium

They even offered one with a great name:
USC's "KILL BIM"

But really the offerings are kind of slim.

Along my journey, I’ve met some younger people who I have mentored and tutored along this path, but finding someone who shares “The Passion” is not easy. I think that's the crux of the matter. No matter what happens, "Passion" can't be taught...its gotta come from within...its gotta be inspired.

Does anyone else think about this at all? I am confident someone else reading this has.

It’s not just training someone to use Revit/ADT/Rhino/Catia/Bentley, but coaching them to see the possibilities our tools bring to the table. How do we inspire passion and innovation for the next generation(s)?

Looking forward to any and all comments/opinions/shared experiences,

TBT

Conquering the Last 100 Feet

2010-08-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

It ain't Revit but this is very cool....

http://www.irhino3d.com/en/

Curtain Panels for Analysis Part 1

2010-07-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

I'm an architect by training and education, but i work at an engineering firm....a BIG engineering firm....the engineering firm you call when your design is so wacky, you don't know who else to call...so i get exposed to alot of problems that need solving.

One of the problems we grapple with constantly is figuring out how to get architectural models into our analysis software. We have a couple of different programs that we use for analysis and they all want line segments. Not faces....not arcs....and most assuredly, NOT SPLINES!!!!

On the infrequent occasion that we get an architect who will actually share a model with us, its some big mess of nurbs and splines and faces that get me nowhere.

If Revit is supposed to be all about collaboration, how can the tool be exploited in order that the architects model can be sent downstream without adulteration? How can we streamline the process from conceptualization to analysis?

First off, here's a curvy-sexy form, straight out of the conceptual mass editor...nothing too fancy:

And this is what it looks like in Autocad...When I export as AICS Element, it calls the element a 'BODY', exporting as Polyface Mesh gives me a mesh with millions of faces. Neither of these elements help me at all for analysis:

Next, I'll apply a curtain panel using the rectangular pattern to the form:

This is now what i get in ACAD...at first look, it isn't very helpful. Whats up with all those diagonal lines?!?!?

ACAD Brought in all the 3d faces, but if i select all the faces and delete them, voila! I get this, the division lines as perfect segments:

Now I can bring the form directly into analysis based completely upon the design intent, which should make everybody happy.

The point isn't that everybody whould model "this way", but rather I want to know what's the downstream potential to export from revit directly into analysis or manufacture....Stay tuned, this idea has some legs....

Rejection Hurts

2010-06-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

Dear [BIM Troublemaker],

Thank you for your proposal to speak at Autodesk University 2010.

We received an overwhelming response from potential speakers—more than 2000 proposals from over 830 professionals. With only about 600 class slots available, we could not accept everyone’s good ideas. We regret to inform you that your proposal was not chosen for one of this year’s classes.

We used several criteria when choosing speakers and topics. Conference experience, evaluations of presenters from past Autodesk University conferences, and proposed topics were all primary factors. Due to the large number and high quality of proposals we received, we even had to disappoint some speakers with excellent scores from previous AU conferences. 

Again, thank you for submitting a proposal. We hope to see you at Autodesk University in Las Vegas this fall.

Sincerely, 

AU Speaker Management Team

Oh well...the AFTER DARK CALENDAR Giveaway will have to wait until next year.

But there are 2 upsides to this.

First, I get to go to AU and make trouble in other people's classes...(i wonder how Matt Dillon deals with hecklers?)...seriously though, I can go and learn, learn, learn.  I take the event really seriously and when i went in 2008, I didn't step outside the hotel until it was time to go to the airport.

Second, I was saving up a bunch of material for the classes i was going to teach which i can now use on the blog.

So thanks AU Speaker Management Team for taking a little bit of work off my shoulders during my next trip to America.  Just another reason why Autodesk rules.

The Lost Art of Lunch & The Imperial Samurai Boba-Fett

2010-06-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Howard Stern went to Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago.

(...any BIM-Blog post that starts off like this is bound to be interesting so bear with me)

As he was discussing the trip, Howard talked about how Jimmy Kimmel has a vintage WELCOME BACK KOTTER lunch box on the shelf in his office.

Which really got me thinking about my childhood lunch boxes. And I'll tell the truth here and say that i can't remember a single one of them. But there is something about this genre of art that, in adulthood, i find quite compelling. So i started looking around and i found this joker, whose collection is significantly larger than Jimmy Kimmel's:

A Man Amongst his Boxes

But here is where it gets juicy...with a little more searching i found this blog post...and links to any blog featuring STAR WARS kitsch absolutely belong on my BIM site:

Vintage STAR WARS Lunch Box Art

I don't think i actually had a STAR WARS box, but i am sure that if i saw one, i envied the owner. And by clicking through a link on that page, i found what is probably the geek-iest damn thing i have ever seen.

But it is sooooo cool....

I am confident that anyone who makes their living off BIM and actually reads Revit oriented blogs, will think so as well...The Imperial Samurai Boba-Fett:

I will never need another desktop wallpaper.....

Large Projects in REVIT - Information Compilation

2010-05-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

I am getting ready to do a pretty large project using Revit. Since i generally spend more time engaged in 3d monkey-business, rather than setting up projects, I knew i needed to do some research.

As I poked around on the web, I saw the same 2 questions over and over:

The Pessimists: "Can REVIT do large projects?"

The Optimists: "What are the setup techniques for a large project in Revit"

I gathered alot of very helpful data and i think i am off to a pretty good start. In the spirit of peace and love, I wanted to post links to all the document's i found because it might be helpful to others.

AU 2006 - Techniques for Managing Large Projects in Autodesk® Revit®.pdf - Handout for AU Presentation by James Vandezande - Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

AU 2008 - Managing Large Projects in Revit® Architecture.pdf - Handout for AU Presentation by Lonnie Cumpton - BIM Traininer, Friedmutter Group

AU 2008 - Managing Large and Complex Revit® Models.pdf - Handout for AU Presentation by Erleen Hatfield – Thornton-Tomasetti

AU 2008 - Collaboration and Large Project BIM.pdf - Handout for AU Presentation by Elizabeth A Chodosh & Gary T McLeod – Cannon Design

AU 2009 - Chaos__Multidiscipline, Multi-Firm, Multi-Location.pdf - Handout for AU Presentation by Eric Kuszewski + Eric Mitchell + Liz Raycroft - KlingStubbins

Sharing the Work in Revit - AECbytes Tips and Tricks by Bill Knittle - Synergis Design Applications Engineer, Building Solutions This is a really thorough explanation of worksets. Its a little old but the fundamental concept is explained quite well.

36 Best Practices for Large Projects in Revit - Concise and to the point blog post from Revitize

And last, a paper from the Mothership about getting Revit to work real good:

Autodesk Revit 2010 - Model Performance Technical.pdf - Starts with a section on system and network setup but then gets into some very good guidelines for model setup and modeling techniques for better performance

To those who actually did this work, i offer my thanks. It has helped me alot and i hope others will find this compilation helpful as well.

And finally, some ridiculous pictures:

The Wackiest Olympics Ever

2010-05-19T22:48:00.000-07:00

Have you guys seen this monkey business? The 2012 London Olympic Mascot's will be....these guys!

Full story is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/19/london-olympics-2012-mascot

London Olympics 2012: Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, drips off the old block

Organisers have unveiled their mascots – creatures supposedly fashioned from droplets of steel used to build the stadium

...With a metallic finish, a single large eye made out of a camera lens, a London taxi light on their heads and the Olympic rings represented as friendship bracelets on their wrists, they resemble characters dreamed up for a Pixar animation....

As if the logo design of Lisa blowing Bart wasn't bad enough...

VOTE FOR TROUBLE!

2010-05-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

I AM NOT ABOVE SHAMELESS SELFPROMOTION!!!
and with that in mind...

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

VOTE TO GET MY CLASSES INCLUDED AT AU NEXT YEAR!

Go here:

http://www.autodeskevents.com/au2010/index.cfm?event=voting.searchForm

Search for speaker Lazarus, Philip (because that's what it sez on the troublemaker's driver's license)

Pick my classes and

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

VOTE EARLY! VOTE OFTEN!

VOTE FOR ME IF YOU LOVE BACON! AND WHO DOESN'T LOOOOOVE BACON?!?!

I am flying all the way to Vegas from the war-torn streets of Bangkok, but i need YOUR help to make the trip really worth while!

I am not above bribery either so,

If elected, i promise to bring great, exotic prizes to give away!

So please,

A VOTE FOR ME IS A VOTE FOR TROUBLE...

...AND THE WORLD NEEDS MORE TROUBLE!!!

PLEASE HELP!

Can I go blind from using WORKSETS by myself?

2010-05-05T02:31:00.000-07:00

I work solo alot and i don't mind a bit. I get to do alot of interesting work that i am quite passionate about it. I get to explore many different avenues and abilities of REVIT that would be difficult if i was tied to the monogamy of a single project. I get to spend big chunks of time, looking at BIM-Porn on the internet and getting paid for it (BUILDZ is always soooooo sexy...I love Zach's deep voice in his videos..)

One of the consequences of pounding it out alone though is that i have never really had reason to play with 'worksets'...until I got this wacky model come across my desk the other day:

My job was to extract the grids from all the orange panels in the interest of structural analysis and downstream manufacturing. The model had come from the architcet with a whole bunch of worksets and all the facade panels were grouped together....easy enough to isolate, but still too damn many to work on all at once. So here is what i did.

First i picked the Panels i wanted to keep together and i put them in distinct worksets.

After the the worksets were created and the panels isolated, I turned the panels into a group and then exported them by right-clicking over the name in the GROUPS area of the project browser (process shown shown in the next 3 images).

and then BANG! I have an exported model of just the pieces I want. INDO-BOY The API-Genius wrote me an add-in to pull the model lines out of the curtain grid. Add some dimensions to check the modulation against the Archi-documents, export to DXF so my engineers can do the analysis in their software, and i am on the plane to Phuket by 6pm...

I am not afraid to admit that i use worksets all alone...by myself....and still haven't found any hair on my palms!

Out of curiosity, do i have ANY female readers (other than Lira)? Somehow i doubt it.....I have been wondering if we could put together a Ladies of AU Calender this year....but somehow i think that would be a long shot...

Twisty Curvy Curtain Panel Fun

2010-04-25T17:39:00.000-07:00

I am sure that many of us are familiar with the Phil Read Twisting Tower (PRTT) idea. Simple mass family, top surface rotates according to an angle determined by the level/elevation of the piece...looks a bit like this:

I remember the first time i saw it, my opinion of Revit changed dramatically for the better. When i learned how to build it myself, my opinion became even more positive! (Links to tutorials here)

Good feelings aside, the dynamic form is so very sexy but i always felt limited by its inherently vertical nature. I understand the relationship to constructability and all that, but i really wanted to push the form to the next level. Curtain Panel Patterns give me the power.

First, i built a simple mass unit using the same principles as the PRTT, but i used the Curtain Panel By Pattern: RECTANGULAR SURFACE template, building the top and bottom rectangles on the edges of the panel.

Now i can apply these masses as a pattern on a surface. I created a 4 point curve, attaching parameters to control the curvature, and then extruded a simple surface, dividing it appropriately:

Then i applied the Rectangular Surface Pattern i had made:

After going through and numbering each individual panel to activate the 'twistyness', I was VERY pleased with the results. Some of the engineers around me in the office looked at this and shuddered...but i don't care, I am in it for the monkey business! Maybe i should change my name to CURTAIN PANEL BY PATTERN-TROUBLEMAKER!

With much respect, admiration and thanks to those who have come before me in this work, here is a link to Phil Read's presentation from AU2006 for the basic PRTT technique:
Advanced Autodesk Revit Building Techniques - Phil Read - BD41-3_AU2006.zip

And this link goes to the model of my Curtain Panel by Pattern monkey business:
twisty 3.rfa

Burmese Pagodas, Curtain Panels and Reporting Parameters

2010-04-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of being based in Asia is that the travel opportunities are phenomenal. A Burmese friend invited me to join him for a trip to visit his family in Myanmar. Of course, I accepted and we spent a few days in Yangon and Mandalay. At the end of the trip, he took me to a place called Bagan where there is a countless number of 1,000 year old brick pagodas like these:

As i spent the day in a horse drawn buggy, trotting across the desert looking at these forms, I started to wonder how to generate them in Revit. I took particular interest in the textures and rings of the spires:

After trying a couple of different methods, it ended up being a really neat experiment in the use of curtain panels and the reporting parameters feature in 2011.

So here we go....

First thing i did was set up a pair of 3-point curves which i would use to set-up my elevation profiles. By attaching parameters to the driving reference points, i could refine the shape later:

Each horizontal line represents a horzontal division of the model. I will use this to get the stepped effect later on but first i had to place reference points at every intersection. I simply placed the points on my curve and then pressed the HOST POINT BY INTERSECTION button. I selected the line i wanted to link for the intersection and it worked like a charm.

Now that point will ALWAYS be where the line and curve intersect....And I can now put a reporting parameter to it that will come in handy later:

Next i had to make my curtain panels using the Panel Pattern Templates. First i made a slab and a disc mass family:

Then nested these in to an OMNI GRID 2x2 Panel Pattern:

The 'Panel_HT' Paramenter is actually a reporting parameter that will be used to control the height of each Pattern Panel in the final model. This is the Patterns after the nested parameters have been linked:

With this accomplished, I go back to my profile model and set up a pair of surfaces to divide and apply my pattern:

Now i go through and pick each panel individually and link its width to the reporting parameters i set up along the curve earlier in the exercise. The end result looks like this:

Several of my Hindu and Buddhist colleagues got a real kick out of seeing this model on my computer screen as the work progressed. They all had a deep religious connection to forms like this.

At the end of the exercise i noticed something very interesting as well, By burrowing down into my selection, I could actually divide the surfaces that made up the individual slabs....This would allow me to apply further textures and ornament to each individual panel element....This is a rabbit hole that goes down pretty far!

Model for Download:

CPP_Pagoda Profile.rfa

More pictures from Burma:

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/bimtroublemaker/OneWeekInMyanmar#

Nested Structural Elements: It's Just a Bad Idea or God Hates Me

2010-04-05T01:51:00.000-07:00

I like consistency in my software, and Revit gives it to me in abundance....I am consistently beating my head against a wall because Revit doesn't do what I want it to, especially when it comes to nesting structural columns and beams in families.

This mess came from an attempt to sort out a post and beam family where a parameter controlled the distance between the columns while an angle parameter controlled the beam slope and column heights.

First I tried it as a line based family. The columns were aligned and then locked to the reference planes. A parameter was set to control the height of the columns and beam start/end points.

This worked great until i added the angle parameter....

Just like they said in CLASH OF THE TITANS, The God's move in unpredictable ways...

So I tried again....this time using a generic template, to see if i could get different results....

This is what it looked like in plan with my columns locked to reference planes:

Then checked out the flexing...

Looks good so far....or is it? I brought it into a REVIT STRUCTURE project:

Looked dynamite....except for one small hitch, I can't snap to the structural elements!

Why?

Because the elements aren't shared.

Why?

Because structural element families don't have the SHARED box ticked.

Why?

I don't know, but if I tick the box myself, nest a column or beam in a family, and then import that family, i get a very ugly error message:

Looking at this mess side-by-side with my non-existent love life, I become convinced that god indeed hates me.

Models are here:

structural meshugas_Line based.rfa
structural meshugas_generic.rfa

Mobius Stripping: Adventures in Infinity

2010-03-29T03:37:00.000-07:00

I was at an art exhibit over the weekend and one of the artists was exploring the relationship between the finite and the infinite.

He postulated that the simplest finite expression we have is bianary language. ON or OFF. Yes or NO. 0 or 1. And from those simple choices, stacked one on top of the next, we reach infinity. Which got me thinking about computers and Revit. I had never given much thought to the idea that everything we do on our computers boils down to a binary expression....and from those simple choices, stacked one on top of the next, we develop our work, our designs, our lives...out to infinity. The concept stuck with me.

So in the spirit of the infinite, I wanted to look at how REVIT would deal with a MOBIUS STRIP....and thus far, I found that it deals with the form poorly. But it did generate some of the wackiest errors I have seen so far while using the program....like this one:

First I tried the easy way. I swept a rectangle along a 180degree arc, rotated one end of the the form, and then made a mirror copy.

In essence it worked, but there were 2 problems. First, the ends of the form didn't blend very well, and Second, I was looking to make the impossible, a flat one sided object! I consider extruding a solid along a path, no matter how thin the solid, to be cheating.

My next attempt involved trying to stich some reference lines together. I made a rig to 3d-Snap the curves to. I was able to get 87.5% around the path like this:

But in the end, it didn't work either...I got a deformed clam shape that you'll see at the end of this movie:

My last attempt is as close as a i came to success. First I made an arc surface family that i could also control the rotation angle of its ends.

Then i nested 8 of them together, worked out the connection angles and it worked pretty nicely.

The edges still don't blend perfectly but it got close enough to satisfy me...for now.

Hmmmm....Conquering the Infinite with Revit Architecture!!!!

Somebody call Carl, I smell a slogan for AU next year...

3D Models to Share:

Mobius Strip Segmented.rfa
Mobius Strip from reference lines.rfa

Of Venetian Blinds and Job Seeking

2010-03-11T16:57:00.000-08:00

At the Huay Kwang Headquarters of the BIMTROUBLEMAKER GLOBAL MINISTRIES, the mailbox is always busting. We love mail about as much as we love late night bbq pork and papaya salad feasts.

The other day we received another cv by email, ”Hey troublemaker can you help me find a job….blah blah blah….” And these inquiries usually get ignored…But this one was a bit different.

2 things got my attention about this joker.

1) His CV shows a good deal of construction and design side credibility, but on the list for his work experience, he mentions his time managing a TATTOO PARLOR/PIERCING STUDIO. This guy snowboards competitively AND can program in C+! To me, this sounds like a winning combination.

2) He sends me a Revit file and says it’s a “showcase of his skills”. I was pretty sceptical about this, until I opened the file. Yowza! Checkout his list of parameters, he obviously knows his way around when it comes to programming families.

These are some .JPGs of the work and a link to download the model.

Venetian Blind.RFA

My current organization already has a resident Revit Smart-A$$ (aka: ME) but this guy looks interesting and capable and I would hire him I could.

So with that in mind, I am gonna give a plug to Egils Bernovskis. If your organization is looking for a Troublemaker, this guy might fit the bill. Drop me a line at bimtroublemaker@gmail.com and I will gladly make the connection.

Good luck with the job hunt Egils!

Curtain Panels: Curved Shading Elements

2010-03-03T02:21:00.000-08:00

A lot of what I have learned about Revit has come from trying to recreate existing buildings in a parametric environment. This is the Singapore Performing Arts Centre which was designed in the late 1990’s and opened in 2002.

What interests me are the shading elements on the glass since This building was done long before we had Revit’s curtain panel elements! I know it’s hard to believe there was architecture before Revit, but somehow, someone managed to do this…and I’ll bet they had a headache when they were finished!

I wanted to investigate how the curtain panel by pattern tool could help me approximate these shading elements…it was surprisingly easy. First make the panel,

Then apply it to the surface,

Links to these models are at the end of this post. This movie shows me creating the panel and applying it to the curvy surface:

By paramerizing the hieght and angle of the shade, i can then study how much light is allowed to pass through, and adjust the design to optimize shading based upon orientation.

Links to these models:

PATT_Rectangle Surface_Curved Shade.rfa

Panelized surfaces.rfa

Thick and Juicy Fun with Curtain Panels

2010-02-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

I really like the curtain panels in Revit. They're fun. While playing with the templates, I realized that I could add thickness.

That's great! So following the precedent set by Carl's Jr, I figured that 'Thicker is Better'...And here we go....Start with a sexy, curvy form like this:

Apply the pattern surface, in the properties panel I adjust the thickness to 20m...Nothing succeeds like excess.

Nice! Now lets add a twist...

and playing around a bit with the number of panels and their twist angles, it gets real thick and juicy....somebody get me a napkin...

Chinese New Year

2010-02-09T23:46:00.000-08:00

Hooray...Singapore is closed for a week! I'm going on vacation...

enough already....

Spring is in the Air

2010-02-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

I have heard that you can model springs in REVIT and had seen some images of them. So i decided to figure out how. In some ways, BUILDZ kind of beat me to the punch with the posts on helixes, which are essentially the same thing...but i was attacking the problem from a different direction...because i believe that anything worth building is worth over-building! Links to both the models shown here are at the bottom of this post....

First, I created half a coil using a parameter driven reference arc with lofted circular profiles as such:

Then I nested the arc into another family, hosted on a rotating reference plane so it would tilt in elevation. This is important to note for later because the radius of my coil segment is no longer equal to the desired radius of my spring:

Now, I nest my rotated coil into a third and final family, where i create as levels as i want. Each coil of the spring is located on its own level and rotated 180 from the half coil directly below.

The distance between coils and the desired spring radius drives the coil radius and rotation and is shown in the formulas.

and i am now falling asleep because this form is sooooooo boring!

So I decided to try again, but this time I added some monkey-business.

Going back to the creation of the initial coil, I figured that I could use an ellipse for the loft path. To make the piece more dynamic, I added a pair of elliptical profiles hosted on reference points, to the path.

This is the parameter list for the final model. Similar to the simple curve except for the "Start Profile" and "End Profile" parameters which control the position of the refrenece planes along the loft. I also programmed in a "Transition PCT" so the end lengths could be controlled as a percentage of their allowable length.

And now the form gets a bit more interesting...

With a bit more work, i could probably sort out how to expand the springs as they get taller. Something to throw in the pile for later.

The Round Spring model can be found here:

Spring Circular.RFA

The Elliptical Spring model is here:

Spring Elliptical.RFA

Helix Methods at BUILDZ:

Helix v.1

Helix v.2

Reader Email: Millenium Hilton WTF?

2010-02-01T17:20:00.000-08:00

I got this email yesterday, and i thought it would be worth posting up. If you send me a good question, I'll post your email too! And if its a really good question, I'll send you a bag of tasty Peppridge Farm cookies to boot!

Hi Troublemaker,

I am 31 years old currently working here in Dubai as CAD Technician.

I am hoping to learn Revit as much as I can. I browse the internet for some tutorials and I am happy that I can little by little learn from it.

I have seen in YouTube the sample of your Massing Study for the Millenium Hilton. Since the pacing is very fast and its hard for me to follow how did you do it, i would like to ask a favor, I am just trying for my own self study, to have a copy of your Revit file for me to review. By the way I am just new in using a Revit and I find it interesting to learn. I am more on AutoCAD and Microstation only.
Best regards and more power,

Allan

--------
Hi Allan,
I am happy to help you out, not too long ago, I was a complete newbie at this too...I had to figure out alot of it on my own, which may or may not have been a bad thing.I can’t share the whole model, but i will tell you what i did, and i'll send you the head piece to take a look at.

LINK TO MILLENIUM HEAD MASS.RFA
When I model, I usually create several 2d families that i use as profiles for my work. So the crown is basically one nested 2d family, copied onto 3 levels, with it’s parameters linked into new parameters in the host family. I then picked all 3 profiles and hit 'create form'….voila!

The body of the tower was similar. I made one 2d family for the base level, one for the top of the taper, and another for the ordinary rectangle at the top. The base profile was toughest because i had to figure out how to control the curvature. I ended up creating a curve that i controlled using dimensioned reference points.

There are a couple of key things to keep in mind.

1) If you use 2d families as profiles, it helps to host them on a reference plane that moves, rather than trying to dimension them vertically. Alternately you can use the offset control, but I stay away from that for no reason other than preference.

2) Think the whole thing out ahead of time. Break the form down to its constituent parts and the model will get alot easier. You will then see what needs to transform and what doesn't. With that understood, figuring out which parameters will have to be linked between the nest and the host will be a snap.

The bulk of what you are seeing in Massing Study for the Millenium Hilton video is me placing these profiles in the host family and linking the parameters.

Start small, start easy...find a simple building near you and just figure out how to model the mass....That’s what I did to learn Revit.
Thanks for writing.
TBT

The BIM Yellow Pages

2010-01-31T20:04:00.000-08:00

This is cool.

A big list of people on he web who blog about BIM and Revit:

http://sites.google.com/site/revitblogdirectory/

Brought to you by this guy:

http://whatrevitwants.blogspot.com/

I am gonna go home tonight and pray to the BIM Fairy that i can get on that list..

Using Parametric Curves to Drive Surface Geometry

2010-01-26T01:25:00.000-08:00

One of my purposes of this blog is to post up the work I did while discovering how to effectively harness the parametric modelling capabilities of Revit.

At first, I had a lot of trouble figuring out the difference between 'Instance' versus 'Type' parameters and where you would use what. This is an exercise where I figured out the difference and how to imbed "Type" Parameters in a model.

First, I laid out some refrence points at random. Each point was linked to some dimensions and then I drew a curve through the points. All of the parameter here are 'Type' and created a few different types with the points in different places. This model was saved and would become a NESTED PROFILE.

Then loaded the curve family (aka THE NESTED PROFILE) into a new conceptual mass model (aka THE HOST), one on each level. The important thing I figured out here was how to apply a 'Label' to each NEST, using the panel in the top left corner. This allows me to change the NESTED PROFILE for any level within the HOST family.

I select all my NESTED PROFILES and hit the CREATE FORM button and voila! I get something like this....

But that form in and of itself is not very interesting, so i go to the Family Types panel and I can see all my labels lined out and ready to be adjusted. In the original NESTED PROFILE model, I set up the different Types which controls the points which drive the form. If i want more NESTED PROFILE types, I can set them up from the project browser, just like with any other family.

And so with this meshugas behind me, I was able to get into something like this:

Conceptually, this process opens many doors in generating complex forms. I use nested profiles quite often my work. The Millenium Hilton model was done this way and an understanding of these principals underpins the Parametric Sightline work.

Parametric Stadium Seating Bowl Design in Revit

2010-01-19T04:53:00.000-08:00

December 2008 I walked out of AU with two goals in mind:

1) To learn Revit, because I'd never used it.

2) To use Revit to build a Stadium Sightline Design Tool.

I flew back to Thailand and, settling into what became a year-long break, got down to business...13 months, 2 trips back to the US, 2 computers, 2 releases of Revit, and 4 South East Asian cities later, this is what I came up with.

Part 1: The Grid

Understanding the principles of seating bowl grid geometry is one thing, programming a grid family is a much tougher nut to crack...but i figured it out.

Part 2: The Section

3 decades ago (1997, actually) I learned about C-values, Focal Distances and all that. Putting it together here though required both digging into trig fundamentals and entering a list of parameters as long as my arm.

The Sightline Design Family I developed uses the key variables: C-Value, Distance to First Spectator, Eye Height, Row Width. I also threw in a parameter for Minimum Incremental Distance Between Treads, essentially a rounding factor, which can positively impact construction efficiency.

Creating a section in 3D allowed me to project a preliminary seat count for each structural bay. I have different tool for counting seats more definitively as the design progresses.

Though I only show the seating section as a single mass here, I also have a version which will itemize and schedule each individual piece of precast. This could be a useful tool for quantity surveys in the later stages of the design.

Part 3: The Bowl

Here I bring both tools together. The model shown took me about 10 minutes to assemble. By linking my sightline section family to the grid, I can cycle through endless bowl options.

There is surely more to investigate; vomitories, disabled platforms, rails and such...Right now, my priority is to look at a method which imports x,y,z points from an Excel spreadsheet. That might make things a bit easier because these families do get a bit heavy.

I owe 2 debts of extreme gratitude to a pair of guys who don't even know I exist.

First is David Baldacchino. I took his class on Fuzzy Math Essentials at AU in 2008. I didn't know anything about Revit Families when I walked in, but knew I would be able to tackle this project when I walked out. I kept the class handout and referenced it often. His blog is here: http://do-u-revit.blogspot.com/

The other is the Revit Family Man. I don't know what became of him because his site has gone a little quiet, but I reviewed his page about Revit Formulae almost every time I sat down: http://revitfamilies.blogspot.com/2005/10/revit-formulae.html

I'd love feedback from others who have been looking at stadium design Revit. I think there is a lot more to be explored, and its fun too!